Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Do NOT Miss This Sunday!

This Sunday at ACC is going to be slamming!

Our full band is back and ready to rock. I'll be preaching after a month out of the pulpit.

More importantly, we've got some big news for you. We're going to share some huge vision.

Most importantly, we're going to see people give their lives to Christ and submit to His Lordship in baptism.

The party (and I mean that quite literally) starts at 11:00 am on Sunday. Get there on time and get ready for an incredible day!

Small Groups Fall Semester

Registration for our fall semester of small groups at ACC starts this Sunday. And it couldn't be easier. You can register online at ameliasmallgroups.com.  The site will be live and ready for registrations this weekend.

You need to be in a small group. If you're skeptical, then you definitely need to check out "Growing," the new series of messages starting this weekend.

Remember Well

Memory puts fear into perspective.

I remember things that used to freak me out. I'd worry. I'd fret. I'd lose sleep. I would let fear dominate me.

But with maturity comes wisdom. I've learned that so many of my fears and worries were baseless and pointless. The longer I experience God's faithfulness, the more my fears are diminished.

But the key is to remember your past. Notice that I didn't say dwell in your past. I simply said that you have to remember your past.

Listen to what God told His people in the book of Deuteronomy.

You may say to yourselves, "These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?" But do not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt. You saw with your own eyes the great trials, the miraculous signs and wonders, the mighty hand and outstretched arm, with which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear. (Deuteronomy 7:17-19)

The Israelites had a very scary situation in front of them. They faced nations whose armies were bigger and more powerful than their own. God's antidote to their fear was to call on their memory. He told them to remember well what He had done.

Most of us don't remember well. Instead, we remember poorly. God's demonstrations of power and sovereignty and faithfulness in the past can fade quickly from our memory once we come face-to-face with a scary situation in our present. And that leads us away from faith and straight toward fear. When you fail to remember the faithfulness of God in the past, you begin to question whether or not He will be faithful in the future.

We need to remember well. Remember well how God has moved in your past. He didn't bring you this far to drop you now.

If you want to have hope instead of worry and faith instead of fear….remember well.

Treating Youth Ministers Like Silver Medal Ministers

Jonathan Acuff drilled it with this post.  He blogged about the question that every single youth minister on the planet has been asked: “Do you ever think you’ll be a real minister someday?”

I was in youth ministry for over 10 years, and I heard this question A LOT! And it's one of the dumbest questions that a person could possibly ask.

Check out the post.  It is nails.

Treating Youth Ministers Like Silver Medal Ministers – Jonathan Acuff

Our church is beyond blessed to have a man like Thayer Wallace leading our students. I hope this post has given you a small glimpse into how tough his job really is.  Pray for him today. Give him some love and encouragement. He's gold medal all the way.

Fours Years And Still Blogging

I started this blog four years ago today. I recently read through some of my early posts.  Pretty embarrassing.

If you read those first posts and you're still reading today…thank you! Thank you for sticking with me as I learned how to communicate through this medium.  And I'm definitely not there yet. Hopefully I'll be a much better blogger four years from now.

Four years…wow.

A Better Door

I recently had to stop our youngest son, Brock, from going out an emergency exit. I knew that if he pushed this door open, an alarm would go off and everyone in the place would look right at us. So I ran and grabbed him right before he pushed the door open and said, "Not that way.  Let's go this way instead."

He didn't understand why he shouldn't use this door, but he trusted his daddy enough to obey. I led him by the hand to another door.

Sometimes there are doors that look perfectly good to us. Going through this door would bring us closer to whatever it is that we're seeking.  At least that's the way it appears to us.

But our Father knows the consequences behind every single door that appears in our lives.  And sometimes, for our sake, He directs us away from certain doors.

You might not understand His reasons or His timing, but when God directs you away from a door, go with Him. He knows what will happen if you go through that door.

And if you give Him time, He'll lead you to a much better door.

Quit Dumbing Down The Gospel

This article from Donald Miller dovetails perfectly out of my post from yesterday.  Not surprisingly, he said it better than me. This is definitely worth a few minutes of your time.

Quit Dumbing Down The Gospel – Donald Miller in Relevant Magazine

Embracing The Unexplainable

I used to think that I had everything figured out.  I was not confident. I was arrogant. When I was in Bible College, I came to believe in a very linear, very precise, easy-to-outline theology. I could explain my God in such a logical way that it seemed irrefutable…at least to me.

Paradox was my enemy.  I was convinced that everything about my faith could be easily articulated and explained…and, within my little theological box, that was indeed the case.

But the more I've learned and grown, the more I have seen the foolishness of this type of thinking. What once was my enemy is now something that I readily embrace. I enjoy the paradox. I'm comfortable with things that I can't explain. And I no longer believe that I have everything exactly right. In fact, I'm quite confident that there are some things in my theology that are misguided…even flat out wrong.

I am no longer arrogant enough to believe that I can fully comprehend the thoughts of a limitless God. I'm comfortable that my God is not fully explainable.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9)

One danger of studying the Bible too much (yes, I said "too much") is that we can begin to believe that learning equates to spiritual maturity. Obviously we need to know the Bible, but the Word of God cannot become our God.

The Bible is simply our gateway to God. Some Christians have exalted the Bible to an idolatrous level. Their love for the Bible has eclipsed their love of God. The end result is that their picture of spiritual maturity is the ability to use the Bible to win arguments and stop all debate.

I do believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. I believe it is absolutely without error.  However, the plain truth is that, regardless of how much Bible you know, some things will remain paradoxical. Some issues will always be unexplainable.

"For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God." (1 Corinthians 2:11)

The only one who can fully understand God is God Himself. Instead of fighting it, we need to embrace it.

God, may we never be so logical…may we never know the Bible so well…may we never be so arrogant that we erroneously believe that we can comprehend Your glory, understand Your power, and explain Your ways. Instead, may we live in constant wonder and awe of our incomprehensible God.

Vacation Reflections 3

The third and final post reflecting on the Edmisten Family Vacation.

We left my brother's house with every intention of heading for home. A few hours into the trip, Nicki and I both remarked that we weren't ready to go home. I still had a few days left on my vacation.  We had planned to spend them at home, but all of a sudden that just didn't sound right.

I made an off-the-cuff comment that we should head to Tennessee for a few days. All was quiet for a few minutes.  I didn't realize that Nicki was silently thinking through our vacation budget. (The last thing you want to do is go into debt for a vacation. That type of thing is short on fun and long on regret.) When she realized that we still had enough cash set aside,  she looked at me and said, "Do you really want to?"

Long story short…we made a phone call, confirmed reservations at a mountain condo, and turned south. It is the most spontaneous trip in the history of our family. And it wound up being a great decision.

When you combine eating breakfast at the Pancake Pantry in Gatlinburg, seeing bears in the wild at Cade's Cove, watching the boys play at a park alongside a mountain stream,  along with a ton of other great stuff…it was just awesome.

This trip highlighted a couple of things for me.  New adventures are awesome…and so are familiar ones.

We did a lot of new and different stuff on this trip.  Baltimore, for example.  And it was a ton of fun. I always want my boys to hunger for new adventures.

At the same time, there is something special about having "our place." The Smoky Mountains have become that for us. It's fun to have a place that holds so many memories.

What's really special is being able to combine new places and "our place" into one trip.  That is what made this vacation truly outstanding.

Vacation Reflections 2

We didn't just sit around my brother's house on our vacation. Ok…we did do some of that. But we also embarked on some different adventures.

We didn't stick to the script on this vacation.  Not at all. We had several things planned…and didn't follow through on many of them.  The main culprit for our change of plans?  The heat. And I don't mean LeBron's new team.

For two straight days, the high temp was 103° with a heat index of 116°. There was a red alert issued because of the heat.  The last time this type of alert was issued in this part of Virginia? During our last visit two years ago. I kid you not.

This forced us to make some changes, which wound up being a lot of fun.  One of the unplanned adventures was a trip to Baltimore. We had never been there and it was only a two hour drive.  We went to the National Aquarium. Lots of fun…especially the dolphin show. Our boys were all about that.

We also ventured out on a trek to Williamsburg, VA. It was too hot to do any of the tours, but it was not too hot to eat at Captain George's.  Best. Seafood. Buffet. Ever. I ate my weight in crab legs alone. Well worth the 1 1/2 hour drive just to eat dinner!

All in all, it was just a stellar visit with my bro's family.  We left their place very thankful for the visit…and very sad that our vacation was over.  Or was it?

Final vacation post on Monday…